BobDole42

First off, this is not an attack against any DVDtalk members who work at these stores.

Every single EB/GS that I have visited has been among the worst retail stores I have ever set foot in. The stores are messy and hot, the prices aren't even close to competitive and the employees seem to be just barely smart enough to stand upright and mumble at the same time. Why hasn't someone entered the market? I would think that a video game store with friendly, intelligent employees and reasonably priced used games (not $5 less than new) would pwn EB/GS like the dog that it is. The thing that really gets my goat is that the moronic employees try to make you feel stupid for not buying their absurd "game protection guarantees."

chrisih8u

I generally dont go in there much anymore. I hate how they push preorders on you.

Me: When is (some game) coming out.
EB: August 10th
Me: Oh, ok.
EB: Do you want to preorder it?
Me: No, Ill just come in and get it then.
EB: Its probably going to sell out. Then everyone will have the game except you. Everyone will laugh at you and you wil be shunned from society. I even heard of a guy who didnt preorder a game he wanted. They found him curled up in a fetal position completely naked and covered in his own vomit. He spends all day in a padded room muttering to himself. Do you want that to happen to you???? HUH???
Me: If you sell out, Ill just go get it at Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Toys R us, or online.
EB:

Anubis2005X

Haha, nice.

Decker

EB : Don't forget to buy the guide. You won't be able to play the game without the guide!
Me: No, it's okay, I have access to this thing called "the internet".
EB :

Michael Ballack

Don't forget how when you don't pre order something and they still have 100 copies of it, they make you feel bad and act like they are doing you a favour by selling it to you. Same thing happened to me with both KOTR games and GTA San Andreas. Either sell it to me or not, worst case scenario I can get the game a few days later at Best Buy. Asses!

darkside

Used games. That is the only reason they are in business. People trade in their games for peanuts and they resell them at a huge markup. If they had to rely on selling new games they would be out of business.

maxfisher

I guess I'm lucky. Most of the ones around here are staffed by people who seem like they'd rather talk about games than push for sales. The used prices are pretty ridiculous, except when they have their fairly regular B2G1F sales. It seems like most games go down to around $15 or $20 after 4-6 mos. and when the sale's on, I've had decent luck at getting some good games for around $10 each. Those sales are also, hands down, the best places to get HBO series boxsets.

raven56706

i think you also forgot

EB : Do you have any old games or systems?
Me: Yeah i have a PS2, XBOX and 100 games...
EB : If you act now, trade in all of that and get $5 bucks off your NCAA 2007 game.
Me: But i can sell it on ebay and get more money.
EB :

tbird2340

edstein

I've had pretty good luck at the stores in my area. I bought the $15 gamer card which gets you a good magazine, 10% off used games and 10% more for trade-ins for 1 year. Seems like a good deal too me. While they can be pushy sometimes with pre-orders and game guides, I just ignore it.

BobDole42

The last time I was in EB, I waited around for 15 minutes while the two employees tried to hard sell some guy on the gamer card. He was buying a $20 game and clearly concerned about money, but these dudes kept trying to sell him the card. After giving up, they moved on to trying to sell him the game protection plan.

Another thing that gets my goat is the fact that they always try to push the used games. I go to ring up with a new game and this is what happens:

EB: "looks like we have a used one for $5 cheaper"
ME: "That's okay, I'll take the new one."
EB: "It says it is in good condition."
ME: "No, thanks."
EB: "I can open it up and check it out for you."
ME: "Dude. No thanks."
EB: "It's the same game, just cheaper."
ME: "Just sell me the game, please."

Blitz6Speed

I never go into any of those small shops. I just guy from BB/Frys. No reason to go there, crap selection, idiot workers and the place is full of 9 year olds. I definetly will not shop there.

Lastblade

EB/Gamestop make a killing sell you a used game for $44.99, when they give you $15 in credit for it. They make way more money selling used games than new games.

PixyJunket

Don't get me started. Just.. don't.

But do you want an answer? Here the simple version:

They give people $20 CREDIT for a new game.
They sell it for $45 CASH.

Disgusting.

raven56706

and that my friends is your answer as to why they make money and are in business

Randy Miller III

Fixed.

By the way, I rarely shop at EB/Gamestop at all (and usually only for OOP DVDs!), but I had one pretty stupid experience that I'm sure some of you have had as well. I wanted to buy a game for a friend's birthday (a new copy, of course), so I took the empty display box up to the counter. Here's how it went:

EB: Here you go, sir (hands me the game in its box, without the shrinkwrap).
Me: Oh, I'm sorry, I wanted a new copy of this game.
EB: This is a new copy.
Me: No, it's not. It's not in the shrinkwrap.
EB: It's still a new copy. It's never been played.
Me: How do I know that? It's out of the shrinkwrap, so it's used.
EB: No, it's never been pl...
Me: Look, if I returned a new game unwrapped, would you give me a refund?
EB: No.
Me: Fine. I'm going to Circuit City.
EB:

ChrisHicks

I've had the exact same experience quite a few times. at 1 store I noticed that they actually never had a sealed copy of anything. they had a big drawer with all the discs in paper sleeves and the manuals sealed up in plastic shrinkwrap. the cases were kept in the back. when I told the guy I needed a sealed one he said they were instructed to open every disc in every shipment to make sure all the contents were in the case but that they were still new even though they are opened(of course the no refund because its opened applies here too).

kajs

This is why I would never buy a "new" game from one of these places. They are all lined up next to the used games in open packages. Who out there is buying opened "new" games?

Centurion

Wow, it's funny how we have similar experiences at the same kind of stores.

I would like to take it a step further by introducing the idiots to you:

GameStop #893
Groves S/C (F)
9060 Tampa Ave.
Northridge CA, 91324 US
(818)885-1922
Idiots selling opened games as 'new', but will not accept it back for a full refund in that same condition.

GameStop #825
The Plant (F)
8000 Van Nuys
Van Nuys CA, 91402 US
(818)785-7071
Idiots pushing for the used game when I wanted the new one.
Selling opened games as 'new'.

EB Games #4492
Valencia Town Center
24201 VALENCIA BLVD.
VALENCIA CA, 91355 US
(661)287-3914
Idiot was too lazy to type in a game title into the computer to verify if it was in stock.

GameStop #2304
River Oaks S/C
24315 W. Magic Mtn. Pkwy.
Santa Clarita CA, 91355 US
(661)253-9015
Idiot didn't know they were accepting used DVD movies towards the purchase of a newly released DVD movie.
Selling opened games as 'new'.

GameStop #3352
Ross Center
19203 Ventura Blvd.
Tarzana CA, 91356 US
(818)774-0273
In June '05, the idiot said that it's not the Xbox 360 system that you should preorder but the games because it's the games that would sell out quickly and that Quake 4 was one of them.

nodeerforamonth

I called them once to see if they had KOTOR in stock when it first came out.

him: "Did you preorder?"
me: "No, I don't do preorders."
him: "No?!?! Why not?!?!"
me: "Because it locks me in at full price. Sometimes when a game comes out, I can get it $20 cheaper than list."
him: "So you don't want to do business with us?"
me: "No, not at all. I just don't want to be locked into a preorder."
him: "So you don't want the game then?"
me: "No, I will buy it from you if you have it now. If not, then I will get it somewhere else"
him: "I just don't see why you wouldn't want to buy from us."

I hung up.

They're not going to go out of business because of stuff like this though. They're going to go out of business because they don't have sales on new games and other stores are undercutting them. I do buy from them for the higher price if they get the games first though (sometimes Best Buy can be a little slow).

devilshalo

I went into a gamestop and picked up a couple used games and had a decent experience. I wouldn't say I'd shop there all the time tho. It's like going to a swap meet or passing by a garage sale, I just go to take a look and if I find what I think is a deal, then I feel I've scored.

mr.snowmizer

They could care less about selling new games. The only good thing a new game does, for Gamestop, is provide an incentive for gamers to trade in old games.

In an ideal Gamestop world, somehow they'd still get the same quantity of games being traded in, but let the Fry's and Best Buys of the world barely break even, or even lose, on the new games.

Noonan

Luckily, the Gamestop down the street from where I just moved to has people working there that know what they're talking about. When Oblivion came out I had a half hour conversation with the kid about Morrowind. They always do ask if I want to pre-order games, but never push it. I would never buy a "new" game that's open though. They always have plenty of sealed copies of the games I'm looking for.

Jeremy517

The thing that always makes me scratch my head is the number of people on places like CAG that are more than happy to trade in their games to GS/EB/etc, despite the fact they could get 2x to 5x more if they sold it on eBay, Half, or even various for-sale forums. These people wait and wait for great deals, but then are more than happy to just throw money away by trading in games. Not wanting to eBay I can understand, I suppose, but it takes no effort to put something on half or list it as being for sale on a message board or game trade forum.

Daryl

Not that I would ever be accused of being pro-Gamestop (the only store I ever almost fought a store employee - that was almost 10 years ago, and yes he still works there), but with their gamer cards and the right sales, you can get some good deals. I usually hit up Gamestop/EB when they have their buy 2 get 1 free sales. Because of the Funcoland/Gamestop/EB consolidations over time, there are like 8 stores within 15 minutes of my house. With the 360 games, they often have them used less than a week after coming out new, so I can go in there buy 2 games at 54.99 or 49.99 (I agree, that's a little high for a used game) and get 1 free, plus the 10% discount with the GS/EB membership. That's three recent 360 games for $100 or less, not bad IMO.